Author: Darrell Davis KT4WX

RICH KENNEDY N4ESS APPOINTED AS SECTION ACC AND PIC

On January 2, 2017, Darrell Davis KT4WX, appointed Rich Kennedy N4ESS, of Zephyrhills, as the Section Affiliated Clubs Coordinator and Public Information Coordinator.  Kennedy, who has been a licensed radio amateur since 1965, just completed three years as President of the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club and decided not to run for re-election.  Kennedy is still active with the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club.

For ease of administration and due to overlapping responsibilities, Kennedy was appointed as the Section Affiliated Club Coordinator and the Public Information Coordinator.

For a detailed ham radio biography you may go to Kennedy’s website at http://www.n4ess.com or visit his page on QRZ.

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ANOTHER TAMPA BAY HAMFEST AND WCF SECTION CONVENTION HELD.  W1YL RECEIVES THE FIRST ANNUAL WHITE AWARD.

The 41st Annual Tampa Bay Hamfest and 16th Annual West Central Florida Section Convention was held successfully on Friday December 9th and Saturday December 10th.  The attendance on Friday was up from the year before and the Saturday attendance was good.  Sadly Sean Kutzko KX9X, who had been scheduled to attend as the representative from ARRL HQ, could not attend due to being ill right before the hamfest.

On Saturday morning at the ARRL table, Section Manager Darrell Davis KT4WX presented Ellen White W1YL, the first annual WHITE AWARD.  The WHITE AWARD was established in 2016 to give recognition to the radio amateur who makes the most significant contribution to amateur radio in the West Central Florida Section.  The WHITE AWARD is awarded once a year and will be presented at the Tampa Bay Hamfest each December.  White has served as a Section Communications Manager, the predecessor to the Section Manager position, in the San Diego in the early 1950’s and had worked at ARRL HQ for many years.

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WHITE AWARD ESTABLISHED.  ELLEN WHITE W1YL TO BE THE RECIPIENT FOR THE 2016 AWARD.

Per the suggestion of one of our Assistant Section Managers, the West Central Florida Section is establishing in 2016, the “White Award”.  The White Award will be awarded each year to one amateur radio operator who has contributed the most to amateur radio here in the West Central Florida Section.  It will be awarded at the ARRL forum at the Tampa Bay Hamfest in December.

The first recipient of the White Award will be the award’s namesake.  Ellen White W1YL, who lives in the Brandon area, will be the recipient of the 2016 White Award.  White, first licensed in 1947, was involved heavily in amateur radio often contributing much behind the scenes.  Among her achievements was becoming Section Communications Manager for the San Diego Section, a stint as a broadcast engineer, and finally along with her husband Bob White W1CW (SK), went to work at ARRL HQ and among doing other functions at ARRL HQ, became Contest Branch Manager and worked there until her and her husband both retired in 1979.  Ellen has also authored numerous articles for QST magazine over those years.  Their son Bob White K4OJ(SK) was a founder of the Florida Contest Group.  You may got to the National Contest Journal at http://ncjweb.com/features/mayjun15feat.pdf to read an excellent interview conducted by Rosalie White K1STO.

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HAMFESTS, MEETINGS, AND EVENTS ADDED TO SECTION CALENDAR FOR FIRST HALF OF 2017

The Section website has just been updated with all known hamfest, Section meetings, operating events, and public service events for the first half of 2017.  These updates had not been previously posted due to the illness of our Section Manager Darrell Davis KT4WX.

If there are any omissions or errors please communicate those corrections to Darrell Davis KT4WX via email at kt4wx@arrl.net.

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SECTION NET CANCELLATIONS FOR THE CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS HOLIDAYS

The following Section Nets will be cancelled in observance of Christmas and New Years

• Section ARES/Information Net on NI4CE Repeater System:  Monday December 26th and Monday January 2nd.
• Section ARES/Information Net on 3913 KHz:  Saturday December 24th and Saturday December 31st.  Also the net will be cancelled on Saturday December 10th due to the Tampa Bay Hamfest.

The Section Technical Net and the Eagle Net will continue to operate through the holidays as scheduled.

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SECTION TECHNICAL NET TO BE CANCELLED ON 11/24/16

The following statement was issued by Geoff Haines N1GY, Technical Coordinator:  In observance of Thanksgiving, the West Central Florida Technical Net scheduled for November 24, 2016 will be cancelled.  The West Central Florida Technical Net will resume on Thursday December 1, 2016.

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SECTION ARES SET DELAYED UNTIL SPRING 2017

At the last quarterly WCF Section ARES Meeting on Saturday October 15, it was decided to postpone the Section ARES Simulated Emergency Test that was scheduled for Saturday October 29, 2016.  The Simulated Emergency Test will be postponed until the spring of 2016.  The exact date, time, and any revisions to the SET scenario will be discussed and finalized at the next Section ARES meeting on January 28, 2017.

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THE WCF EXPERIMENTER – Fall 2016 – ISSUE HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED

The Fall 2016 edition of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER, the Official Technical Newsletter of the ARRL West Central Florida Section has just been published.  You may download the Fall 2016 edition at http://arrlwcf.org/download/wcfexperimenter/WCFExperimenter_4Q2016.pdf.  For all past issues of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER since its reboot a few years ago you may go to http://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-experimenter-technical-newsletter/.

This issue is one of the largest issues published recently thanks to the contribution of some articles by amateur radio operators who reside in the West Central Florida Section.  Geoff Haines N1GY, our Technical Coordinator for the West Central Florida Section is the editor of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER.  The next issue will be the WINTER 2017 issue so now is the time to get busy writing an article for the next issue if you have a project or idea you would like to write about.  Send any submissions for THE WCF EXPERIMENTER to Geoff Haines N1GY at n1gy@arrl.net.

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